County Board Denies Off-Road Vehicle Park Its Expansion Request

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 12:01 PM

Plans to legally expand activities at an off-road vehicle park in a rural area outside of Frostproof stalled Wednesday when the Polk County Planning Commission deadlocked on the case, denying the plans. It was initially unclear whether the tie vote would allow applicant Colon Lambert to appeal to the County Commission.

By TOM PALMERTHE LEDGER

BARTOW | Plans to legally expand activities at an off-road vehicle park in a rural area outside of Frostproof stalled Wednesday when the Polk County Planning Commission deadlocked on the case, denying the plans.

It was initially unclear whether the tie vote would allow applicant Colon Lambert to appeal to the County Commission.

The proposal involved a request by Dirty Foot Adventures to expand an 82-acre off-road vehicle park to a 1,150-acre facility.

The property is located off Singletary Road south of Avon Park Cutoff Road.

The park was approved in 2011 for a complex that included all-terrain vehicle tracks, mud pits and a 29-acre campground as well as permission to park as many as 2,500 vehicles on the property.

The expansion would have added off-road vehicle trail riding.

Just months after the motorsports park was approved in 2011, it was shut down by Polk County code investigators who responded to complaints and found that the business had expanded its operation outside the area that was originally approved.

The expansion request was made to resolve a code enforcement case.

The operation had generated complaints from surrounding property owners regarding noise and traffic.

The case had been on hold since it was first heard in December after David Theriaque, the lawyer representing area property owners, pointed out that the intense recreation use proposed was not allowed under the county's growth plan in areas classified as rural agricultural.

County officials are in the process of considering a growth plan amendment to fix the problem. The county staff report, which recommended approval, conditioned its approval on formal adoption of the growth plan change, which is not scheduled for adoption until April 16.

But Theriaque criticized that approach, arguing the case should either remain on hold until the growth plan amendment case — which he said could be appealed — is resolved or commissioners should consider the case based on what the growth plan said when the project was originally approved.

He and his clients continued to insist the off-road vehicle park conflicted with their rural lifestyle and it was an encroachment into a traditional agricultural area.

But David Carter, a consulting engineer representing Lambert, argued it was not unusual to consider growth plan changes concurrently with development cases.

Lambert said he had worked to reduce incompatibility and didn't think the noise problems were as serious as alleged.

The case split planning commissioners, who deadlocked 3-3 on three votes.

Larry Black, who made the first motion for denial, said the project is too intense for a rural area.

He was joined by members Patty Schmidt and Kyle Story in opposing the project.

Chairman John Webb, who was joined by Rennie Heath and Jim Urick in supporting the project, argued it was needed.

"The recreational industry is growing every day; there is a need for it," he said. "We have to have it somewhere."

Webb said it's hard to find large tracts of land anywhere in rural Polk County with no one living near them.

But Schmidt said people live in rural areas for the peace and quiet. Black said he was concerned about the traffic, too.

"Noise is the issue, but so is the magnitude of this project," he said. "Allowing 2,500 cars on this rural road is not compatible with this part of the county."

[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. Read his blog on the environment at environment.blogs.theledger.com. ]

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